Safety door catch



June 3 0, l93ls. Efs'i'l-:VENTON ET AL 1,812,762

SAFETY DOOR CATCH Filed May 25, 1929 Lflllll..

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Patented June 30, 1931 UNITED 'STATES mrizN'rv OFFICE SETI; E.sTEvENToN, or MOUNT CARMEL, Ann DAVID HAnnisoN WIGGs, or DANVILLE,

` ILLINois SAFETY DOOR CATCH This invention 'relates Vto. a safety catchwhich, while capable of being used in connection with sliding doorsgenerally, shall be especially adapted for use in connection with theheavy sliding doors of railway baggage and express cars. Y

The invention has for one of its objects to provide a safety catch whichshall be adapted to positively hold a b-aggageor express car door inpartly or fully opened position against accidental closing whereby. toVprevent the loss of life and injuries which would result in the closingYof the door due to switching in terminals, express falling against thedoor, sudden stopping of the car and the like.

The invention has for a` further object to provide a safety'catch whichwill positively hold the door in closed position.

`The' invention has for` a further object to provide a safety catchwhich will automatically function on the opening of the door to hold itagainst accidental closing and which will automatically function on theclosing of the door to hold it against accidental opening.

The invention has `for a further object to provide a safety catch whichshall be positive in action, which shall be simple, durable andinexpensive to manufacture,;and which shall be adapted to be easily andquickly applied and easily and quickly operated to effect the release ofthe door for movement intoopened or'closed position.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the nature of which willappear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in aconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fullydescribed and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,wherein Figure l is an elevational view illustrating the application ofthe safety catch; Y

Figure 2 is .a sectional view taken on the vertical plane indicated bythe line 2 2 of Figure l; C VFigure 3 is a sectional view taken on thevertical plane indicated bythe line 3 3 of Figure l; f 1" 1 Figure 4 isa top plan view of fragmentary portions of the safety catch and cardoor; and i:

Figure 5 is a sectional View illustrating the form of the `attaching barbefore it isapplied to the door posts. y

Referring in detail to the drawings, 1 designates a side, 2 the doorposts and 3 the sliding door of a railway baggage orl express car, thedoor being mounted by means, not shown, for movement to the left whilebeing opened.

The safety catch comprises a keeper 4 which is in the form of a rackbar. rack bar 4 is provided at" its upper side with terminal teeth 5 and6 and intermediate teeth 7, and it is provided with terminal attachinglugs 8. rlhe rack bar 4is positioned upon and secured to the web '.9 ofan attaching bar l0 of inverted U-formrin cross section, the parts beingconnected by. bolts or rivets l1 passing through and engaging the lugs 8and web 9. The rack bar` 4 and the attaching bar 10 are slightly longerthan the horizontal dimensions of the door opening of the'car, and theattaching har is positioned upon and secured tothe upperends o-f thedoor posts 2.; The attaching bar 10 receives the upper end portions ofthe door posts, and is secured thereto by bolts 12. To .permit the readyapplication-of the attaching bar lOVto the door posts 2, the attachingbar 4 is delivered for application withone of its flanges 13 arranged inhorizontal alinement with its webV 9, as shown in Figure 5. After theapplication of the attaching bar lOthisla-nge isbent down into contactwiththerdoor posts 2, and thereafter, the bolts are applied.

Thertooth 5 of the rack bar 4 is of rectangular formation and has ahorizontal upper face 5a and'vertical inner'and outer Vfaces 5b and 5c,respectively. The tooth 6 has an inclined inner face 6a anda verticalouter face 6b.

The teeth 7 eachhave inclined inner faces 7a and vertical outer faces7?). The latch dog 14 of the safety catch contacts with the inner face5b o-f the tooth 5 Vwhen, the door is closed, contacts with the outerfacefb ofone of the Vteeth 7, when the door is partly opened, and

The

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during the opening movement of the door, the inner faces 7a of theseteeth incline upwardly in the direction of the movement of the latchdog.

The latch dog 14 is of angular formation in plan. 1t is provided at thejuncture of its long arm 14a and short arm 14?) with a-n opening for thereception of a pivot pin 15 which extends horizontally from the upperend of a bracket arm 16. The arm 16 is secured to the door 3 by bolts17, and it extends above the door for a distance sufficient to positionthe latch dog 14 above the Vrack bar 4. The latch dog 14 is provided atthe free end of its long arm 14a with a downwardly extending engagingpoint or catch 18 which is provided with a vertical outer face 18a, adownwardly and outwardly inclined inner face 18h and an upwardly andforwardly inclined lower face 180. The face 18acontacts with the innerface 5b Vof the tooth 5 when the door 3 is fully closed, and in Viewthereof the door will be positively held in such position.

The face 18?) contacts with the outer face of one of the teeth 5 and 7when the door is partly opened, and contacts with the outer face of thetooth 6 when the door is fully opened, and in view thereof the door willbe positivelyheld in either partly opened or fully opened position.

An arm 19 extends upwardly and inwardly from the pivot pin 15. Itisprovided with an opening 19a for the reception of the pivot pin 15. Aportion of the wall of the opening and a portion of the lateralsurface'of the pivot pin are straight and contact tohold the arm againstanypivotal movement on the pivot pin. A' coil spring 20 secured at oneend to the arm 1421 of the latch dog 14 and as at 20?) to the arm 19,functions to yieldingly retain the latch dog in enga-gement with therack bar 4. To hold the latch'dog 14 against 'any lateral movement withrespect to the rack-bar 4, and thus insure an accurate engagementbetween these parts, a guide 21 of inverted U-form is employed. Theguide 21 straddles the latch dog 14 outwardly beyond the pivot pin 15,and the side members or arms thereof extend below the latch dog andcontact with the sides of the rack bar 4. The guide 21 is secured inplace by a pin 22.

As the latch dog 14 cooperates with the tooth 5 to positively hold thedoor in fully closed position, and as it cooperates with one 'of theteeth 6 and 7 to positively hold the door aga-inst movement. in thedirection of its fully closed position, it must be withdrawn fromcontactrwith the raclrbar 4 when itis desired to open the door from itsfully closed position or when it is desired to close the door.

The means by which the latch dog 14 may be withdrawn from engagementwith the rack bar 4 comprises a disc 23 which is rotatably mounted uponthe inner side of the door 3 below the latch dog, and a rod 24 pivotallyconnected at its lower end to a lug 25 on the outer side of the disc andpivotally connected at its upper end to the free end of the latch dogarm 14?) by a pin 26. The pin 26 passes through the latch dog arm 146,and is provided at one end with a flange 26a contacting with one side ofthe said arm. The pin 26 is provided at its other end with an opening2Gb within which the lower end of the spring 2O is secured. The springfunctions to secure the rod 24 on the pin, and cooperates with theflange 26a to hold the pin against displacement from the latch dog arm.

A plate 27 is secured to the outer side of the door 3 by rivets or bolts28. The plate -27 is provided with an inwardly dished portion 27 a, anda bushing 29l fixed to this portion extend through the door 3. A spindle30 is journaled in the bushing 29 and extends through a hub 31 upon theouter face of the disc 23. The spindle 30 extends through the disc 23 toa point beyond the inner face thereof, and it is provided inwardlybeyond the disc with a radial opening. The bushing 29 is longer than thethickness of the door 3, and the hub 31 is longer than the lug 25, thebushing and hub contacting to space the lug from the door so as topermit free movement of the disc.

The spindle 30 is held against endwise movement with respect to thebushing 29 by a collar 301) formed on'the spindle and contacting withthe bushing, and by a. pin 32 which passes through the opening in thespindle and contacts with the inner face of the disc. rI`he pin 32 alsoholds the disc 23 on the spindle 30, and cooperates with lugs 33, on theinner face of the disc, to establish an opera-tive connection betweenthe spindle and the disc. The lugs 33 are arranged at opposite sides ofthe pin 32 and in spaced relation thereto, `so as to permit the latchdog 14 t-o move, while passing over the inclined faces 7 a of the teeth7, without imparting movement to the spindle. A handle 34 in the form ofa ring is pivotally connected to the outer end of the spindle 30, and itis adapted, when not in use, to extend downwardly from the spindlewithin the dished portion 27a of the plate 27. -When the handle 34 is inthis position all danger of the accidental retraction of the latch dog14 is avoided.

Inv order to permit the latch dog 14 to be arranged'accurately withrespect to the rack bar r4 dur-ing the application of the safety catch',and to permit any adjustment of the latch dog that may be foundnecessary in order to insure its efficient cooperation with the rackbar, the rod 24 is made in sections and the sections thereof areconnected by a turnbuclrle 35, the turnbuckle being adapted to beoperated to vary the effective length of the rod so as to effect thedesired adjustment of the latch dog 14. In order to prevent injury tothe rod 24 and turnbuckle 35 by the contents of the car, a guard 36 isprovided for these parts.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, it should bey apparent that the safety catch willeither positively hold the door in fully closed' position or fullyopened position, and that it will positively hold the door againstmovement from a partly opened position in the direction of its fullyclosed position.

It should also be apparent that the door will be automatically latchedin its fully opened position or in any partly opened position into whichit may be moved, andy that the handle 34 and the connection between itand the latch dog 14 enable the latch to be easily and quickly retractedwhen it is desired I to release the door from its fully closed or partlyopened position.

Vhile we have described and illustrated the safety catch in connectionwith a door adapted to be moved to the left while being opened, it is tobe understood that the safety catch may be constructed for use inconnection with a door adapted to be moved to the right while beingopened. It should also be understood that the safety catch can beadapted for use in connection with sliding doors of the double type, andwhen made for a door of this type two rack bars and two latch dogs willbe employed.

The handle 34 permits the latch dog V14 to be retracted by a personoutside of the car,

and the disc 23 permits the latch dog to be retracted by a person withinthe car.

As the lugs 33 are spaced apart for a distance greater than the diameterof the pin 32, the disc 23 may be turned far enough to retract the latchdog 14 without imparting any movementto the spindle 30, and in viewthereof the freezing of the handle 34 to the plate 27 will not interferewith the retraction of the latch dog by a person within the car.

If the door opening is of considerable width, the rack attaching bar maybe sup-ported at its center by a brace, not shown, connected to the barand to the ceiling of the car. hile the parts of the catch maybe madefrom any suitable material, they will be preferably made from hardenediron or steel, such as chrome vanadium. The vertical face 5b of thetooth 5 and the vertical face 6b of the tooth 6, are of greater depththan the vertical faces of the teeth 7. When the catch 18 of the dog 14is in contact with either of the tooth faces 5b or 6b, t-he dog will,owing to the Vdepth of these tooth faces, occupy an approximately rightangular position with respect to the pull rod 24 and the pivot lug 25will be at the dead center of the. disc 23 and the spindle 30, with theresult that the dog cannot be withdrawn from contact with either ofthese tooth faces by slacking or wiggling the door, except through thedirect operation of the spindle. Furthermore, the disc of the tooth face5b insures a positive contact between the catch 18 and such face eventhough the upper inner corners of the tooth 5 be knocked o. When thecatch 18 is in contact with one of the inclined tooth faces 7 a orvertical tooth faces 7 b, the dog 14 will occupy an acute angularposition with respect to the pull rod 24.

The pivot 25 will be off of the dead center of the disc 23 and spindle30, with the result that the door may be moved from any partly openedposition in the direction of its fully opened position without turningthe disc 23, the catch 18 passing from one to the other during thismovement of the door.

W'hile I have described the principle of the invention together with thestructure which I now consider the preferred embodiment thereof, it isto be understood that the structure shown is merely illustrative andthat such changes may be made, when desired, as fall wit-hin the scopeof the invention as claimed.

`We claim 1. A catch of the character set forth, comprising a rack bar,a bracket arm having a pivo-t liXed thereto, an angular latch dogrocka'bly mounted at the juncture of its arms on the pivot, an armfiXedly secured to the pivot and having an angular relation with respectto one of the latch dog arms, a spring posi- Ationed between said lastarms to hold the latch dog in active position, and a catch carried bythe other arm of the latch dog.

2. A catch of the character set forth, comprising a rack bar havingterminal and intermediate teeth, the intermediate teeth having inclinedinner faces and vertical outer faces, one of the terminal teeth havingan inner vertical face and the other terminal tooth having an outervertical face of greater depth than the vertical faces of theintermediate teeth, a pivoted dog, a rotatable operating member, and apull rod pivotally connected tothe dog and operating member, the dog andpull rod occupying a substantially right angular position with respectto each other and the pivotal connection between the pull rod andoperating member being at the dead center of the member when the dog isin contact with the vertical face of either of t-he terminal teeth, andthe dog and pull rod occupying an acute angular position with respect toeach other and the pivotal connection between the pull rod and memberbeing at one side of the dead center of the member when the dog is incontact with an inclined or vertical face of one of the intermediateteeth.

In testimony whereof we hereunto aix our signatures.

SETH E. STEVENTON.

DAVID HARRISON WIGGS.

